Interim safety measures needed at rail crossings

Published 7:51 pm, Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Bethel residents are up in arms about potential dangers at Metro-North rail crossings in town. And for good reason.

There are signals and gates at local crossings, including spots along busy Greenwood Avenue in the center of Bethel and on South Street, a heavily used artery to neighboring Danbury. But those warning signs are not functioning properly -- and they haven't been for months.

More than 250 Bethel residents have signed a petition calling on the state Department of Transportation to install warning signs near the railroad tracks to let motorists know they should proceed with caution.

That is a reasonable and prudent request, and we urge the DOT to respond accordingly.

Metro-North officials acknowledge the problem, which they say stems from glitches in the $70 million centralized train control system installed by the railroad company last year.

Metro-North also admits it has "no firm date as to when it will be fixed."

That is not comforting to motorists who cross Metro-North rail lines, and it highlights the need for interim safety measures.

The rail company has initiated one safety measure -- a "stop-and-warn" procedure by which conductors stop the train at each crossing and manually activate the warning signs.

Metro-North and Bethel officials claim the local rail crossings are safe in light of "stop-and-warn." But a lot of Bethel residents don't feel safe, and we agree with them that more should be done to ensure that a tragedy does not occur at a crossing between now and whenever the $70 million warning system is fixed.

Bethel townspeople and other area residents clearly remember that two young people were killed in a December 2012 collision between a Metro-North train and a vehicle on Long Ridge Road in West Redding -- just a few miles from Bethel.

And they are also well aware of the string of recent problems involving Metro-North trains, including the December 2013 derailment in the Bronx, N.Y., that was apparently at least partly the result of conductor error and that caused the death of four people.

Is it unreasonable for motorists to be apprehensive about wagering their lives that the "stop-and-warn" procedure will be effectively employed 100 percent of the time?

Joseph Giulietti, the new president of beleaguered Metro-North, has created a new position of chief executive for safety for the rail company.

In explaining that appointment, Guilietti said, "Safety needs to be a function in and of itself -- safety for our crews, safety for our passengers and ourselves going forward."

And, might we add, safety for the motorists who traverse Metro-North rail crossings.

We agree with Guilietti's new emphasis on safety, and a good start would include devoting all the resources necessary to repair the centralized train control system so the signals and gates can be counted on as reliable warning signs -- in Bethel and elsewhere.

In the meantime, we believe Metro-North, DOT and local officials need to listen -- and respond appropriately -- to motorists who justifiably want to feel safe as they drive across railroad tracks.